


The Object of my Desire

by Pinkdrinkz



Category: Inanimate Insanity (Web Series)
Genre: Angst, Hanahaki Disease, M/M, OC X CANON
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-27
Updated: 2018-06-27
Packaged: 2019-05-29 15:12:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,967
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15075884
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pinkdrinkz/pseuds/Pinkdrinkz
Summary: Pink Drink has gotten Hanahaki disease. He spends his time reminiscing about how he got into his situation, and how he fell in love. But the clock is still ticking and with every passing hour, it gets harder to breathe.





	The Object of my Desire

**Author's Note:**

> ((Quick content warning!! Mention of suffocation, blood, coughing fits, and very very subtle suicidal thoughts))

  He braced himself on the side on the toilet, wheezing and trying to catch his breath. In the bowl below his face dozens of pink and red flowers were submerged in the water. Clumps of blood stained their pretty petals and turned the uninhabited water a light pink. One final cough shook his body as the last flower fell out of his mouth. He wiped his hand across his face, spitting out a few stray petals that hadn’t already made their way out. This daily flower-heave had become almost routine to him. Every day for the past two weeks he’d had one of these fits, he’d become far more familiar with the close-up view of the toilet bowl than he ever wanted to be. He sighed and closed his eyes, resting his face on his hand and slowly slipping into a light slumber.

 

…

 

    It had started out fairly mild, an occasional petal would be found in his mouth after a cough, he never thought much of it. It almost became a joke at times.

    “You been eating flowers again PD?”

    It was only once they started coming out in clumps that he became concerned. He tried his best to hide it from those who he knew, carrying around extra napkins to spit into when he couldn’t suppress the coughing anymore. As months passed the situation became worse. Clumps turned into small flowers, which became larger flowers, which then became bloody and red. He had to tell somebody, quick.

    “ **OH MY GOD, YOU’RE DYING????** ” Pink Drink lunged forward to quickly press Mic’s power button, quieting her magnified voice.

    “Not so loud!! Besides, I’m not dying… I think… I’m just sick.” Pink fiddled nervously with his hands. “It’s not that big of a deal…”

    “Not that big of a deal?! It’s a huge deal, don’t you know what you have?!” After Pink shook his head Mic sighed and continued, “Really? I would think someone like you would know…Have you really never heard of Hanahaki disease?”

    He jolted in shock. Hanahaki disease? “That-that can’t be right! That’s not- I’m not- I don’t- This doesn’t make any-” He flew through different words, his racing thoughts left him unable to form a coherent sentence. At last, he said something that made some sort of sense. “I thought that it wasn’t real?”

    Mic sighed, “Well, I uh… I think it’s real… ”

    “You THINK it’s real??? You THINK? God, you can’t just say these things without knowing if they’re true or not, I almost had a heart attack.”

    Mic handed her phone over to Pink. She had apparently been looking up whether it was real or not while he had been busy exploding.

    “See? You need to have more faith in me.”

    However, neither Mic nor Pink were happy about the fact that she was, indeed, correct. His heart fell to his stomach as he stared at the small info card that Google had provided them with.

    Mic put a hand on his shoulder, “Here, I’ll help you make your first appointment! I can even come with you if you want…”

    He nodded, “Yeah, I’d like that a lot.”

    Visits with various doctors and nervous conversations with Mic in waiting rooms were almost all that Pink Drink’s life was filled with for the next week or so. He went through several different doctors in order to get an official diagnosis (it was an extremely rare disease after all), and many doctors didn’t know much about it. Mic went to as many appointments and tests as she could in an attempt to help Pink through the process. She had a life too though, which left Pink alone for his culminating meeting with a specialist.

    “Mr. Drink?” A syringe called his name from the door leading out of the waiting room. Pink stood up and walked towards them. “Right this way please.”

    He couldn’t make sense of the turns they were making and the doors they were going through. His thoughts felt soft and he had a hard time processing what was going on. Eventually, he was led to a seat inside an office and asked to wait there. The posters on the walls were grim, photos of coughed up flowers coated in blood and diagrams of flower growth patterns inside of lungs. There even appeared to be a poster detailing flower removal surgery; Pink shuddered at the thought.

    The squeak of a door hinge startled Pink out of his thoughts, and a rather handsome black rose stepped into the room, a perfect omen of what was to come. The expression on the doctor’s face told Pink Drink all that he needed to know.

    Hanahaki disease is a disease of the heart and lungs, caused by an intense one-sided love. The victim of the disease suffers flower growth in the lungs that will soon after be coughed out in violent and bloody fits. This continues until one day the flowers become too much and the victim suffocates. There are only two ways to cure the disease, one of which is to have your affections returned to you by the one you loved so much. However, in order to do that in time to beat out the disease, Pink would have to confess. And that, for Pink Drink, was the scariest part. Not that the thought of suffocating to death wasn’t scary, it was truly terrifying. It’s just that to Pink Drink the thought of telling his love his true feelings was even more so.

    “There is another way, however.” The doctor seemed almost guilty for bringing it up.

    “And that is?”

    “We can surgically remove the flowers and their roots. Once this is done they will not be able to grow back again, but…” A pause, “You will lose your feelings for whomever it is you feel so strongly for. Many patients even report never being able to feel love again.”

    A silence overtook the room, a thousand thoughts flashed through Pink’s mind. Nothing made sense in his mind, he didn’t expect him to make a choice now did he? The beginnings of a migraine began to form, only interrupted by a sudden coughing fit. The doctor shot up, grabbed the nearest trash can, and half shoved it into Pink’s hands. Out of his mouth came five large roses and a concerning amount of blood. Four were the usual red and pink flowers that he had become so used to seeing, but one practically glowed a bright yellow. After the coughing subsided he sat and just stared at the container of blood and flowers, only looking up when the doctor spoke once more.

    “Take some time to think about this. Well, perhaps don’t take too long…” The rose shifted uncomfortably. “We can go over what the surgery entails if you so wish…”

    “No…” Pink shook his head. “No thank you. I’d just like to go home now.”

    “As you wish.” The rose then thrust a card into Pink’s hand. “This is the most direct way to contact me if you come to a decision or decide that you would like to talk about it.”

    After the card was taken the syringe was called once again to guide Pink back out of the maze of offices and back into the waiting room.

    “Have a good day, sir.”

    “Thanks… You too.”

 

…

 

    He was jolted awake from his toilet-nap by the sound of his phone going off loudly. He grunted as he stood up, the effort of it being almost too much for him. He looked down into the toilet bowl with a mix of fear and disgust.

    “Please don’t clog.” He spoke quietly to himself while flushing the toilet. Thankfully it all went down fairly smoothly. He didn’t think he could handle trying to use the plunger on the mass of blood and petals. “Gotta start doing that in the trashcan or something…” The phone buzzed once more, reminding him of why he even woke and stood up in the first place. Opening it he found a message from Mic.

_'Hey, how’d it go? How are u feeling?’_

_'Could it even go well? I feel terrible rn and all I wanna do is take a fucken nap or smth…’_

_'Do you wanna talk about what happened?’_

_'Just… gimmie a bit, I’ll tell you when I can even process what happened’_

_'Ok dude, just take care of yourself alright?’_

_'You got it’_

    Pink Drink then shut off his phone and half-heartedly tossed it from the bathroom and onto his bed. He really didn’t want to deal with anything right now. After throwing some food together he plopped down on his couch in front of the T.V. and turned it on. He tried to force himself to eat and got about half his food down, but couldn’t bring himself to finish. He plucked a single yellow petal out of this mouth as he stared at the screen, not at all paying attention to what was happening. How the hell did he even get himself into this mess?

 

…

 

    “Pink Drink! Over here!” The tall object waved furiously over the crowd, beckoning him forth. It took a bit of ducking under people and squeezing between them to get to her, but eventually, he made it. He broke out of the crowd and into a clearing were Mic stood.

    “Mic, hey! It’s nice to see you, girl!”

    “Nice to see you too! I can’t believe you decided to move out here and didn’t tell me until a week ago…”

    “I forgot you lived here ok? You know how terrible my memory is.” He grinned at her as he said this.

    “Shall we?” Mic motioned towards the door.

    “Yeah, totally!”

    After the hassle of getting all of Pink Drink’s bags and personal items, they called a Lyft to take them to Pink’s new apartment. Upon arriving, Pink unlocked the door and lead Mic inside. The apartment itself wasn’t anything special, one bedroom, one bathroom, and mini kitchen that opened into a small living room. He could make this home.

    “It’s nice! Should we start to unpack or do you want to wait a while?”

    “If I wait I will definitely never actually unpack.”

    Mic giggled and replied, “Whatever you say!

    Though the rest of his stuff wasn’t in Los Angeles yet he still had about four bags full of ‘necessities’ that had to be unloaded. The previous tenant had left a fair amount of furniture (“Are you kidding? God you’re so lucky, furniture is so expensive!” Mic had half screamed.), so they had actual places to unload onto.

    After they had been working for a solid two hours they both plopped on top of Pink’s bed.

    “Man, I wish I had a queen-sized bed. It’s so much nicer than having a twin.”

    “A queen size bed fit for a queen like me!” Pink winked at her and giggled.

    “Oh shut up!” She shoved him playfully then sat up. “Hey, I know a pretty good cafe nearby do you want to go there for…” She looked around, the only clock in the apartment seemingly had no hands. “Uh…meal?”

    “Did you just ask if I wanted to go out for ‘meal?’”

    “Maybe.”

    Pink Drink laughed loudly then said, “Yeah, sure.”

    They headed out of the apartment and made their way to the cafe. It was quite a bit larger than he expected, one of the biggest ones Pink had ever seen. A large “WE HAVE WIFI” sign was plastered on the front door. Ah, an internet cafe, suddenly the large amount of hipsters drinking coffee and using laptops made sense.

    “Nice place right? I come here all the time to write lyrics. The people here are super nice too! They sometimes help me out!”

    “It’s lovely!” Pink took a moment to admire the abundance of plants that lined every window. The whole cafe had a wonderful green and brown aesthetic that made him feel comfortable and warm. The smell of fresh brew only added to the atmosphere. The inside of the cafe contrasted greatly to the brick of the store face. The interior looked like the log cabin of a millionaire, it was spacious with high ceilings and tables a respectful distance apart. A fireplace with an accompanying lounge area seemed to be a very popular place as every single chair and couch was filled.

    “Here, sit down! I’ll order for you, what do you want?”

    “Oh, just a green tea would be nice, nothing in it please.”

    “Sure thing!”

    As Mic skipped over to the order counter Pink Drink found a place at a small table in the corner of the cafe. The wooden table had small cactus patterned cup mats and a small note that read: ‘no cups on the wood please! <3’ He sighed as he sat, thankful that he was no longer unpacking and could take a moment to relax. Just as he had finally felt comfortable he was jolted back into reality by an extremely loud voice.

    “HEY THERE! I don’t think I’ve seen you around before! Are you Mic’s friend?” A very excited looking lightbulb had seemingly appeared about five inches from Pink Drink’s face.

    “Lightbulb, we’ve been over this.” The light bulb was snatched away from Pink and set back down on the floor next to an annoyed looking paintbrush. “I’m sorry about that, she’s like a dog, jumps on every new person she sees.”

    “Hey!”

    “It’s true.”

    Pink Drink just laughed at this. “It’s fine, I really don’t mind. And to answer your questions, I just moved here today, my name is Pink Drink, and yes! Mic is my friend.”

    Lightbulb lost her kicked-puppy look and jumped back up to her feet. “Oh wow, that’s so cool!” She stuck out her hand for Pink to shake. “My name’s Lightbulb! and this grump-” She elbowed the paintbrush. “Is Paintbrush!”

    “Nice to meet you.” Paintbrush lost their grumpy expression and replaced it with a cool smile.

    “We also have two other friends with us too! They’re off getting drinks though. Oh HEY!” She lit up. Guess she had an idea. “Why don’t we all sit together? Just you, me, Painty, Mic, Tube, and Fan! It’ll be fun!”

    Paintbrush did not seem all too thrilled with this idea. “Lightbulb, what about-”

    Before they could finish their sentence Mic walked back to the table and set down hers and Pink Drink’s drinks.

    “Oh uh, hey guys! It’s nice to see you!” Mic’s stance was off and she seemed to be fiddling with her hands more than usual.

    “Hey Mic!” Lightbulb immediately went in for a hug, Paintbrush, however, made no move to even acknowledge that fact that Mic was there.

    “Hey Lightbulb! … Hey Paintbrush…”

    “Hey.” Their annoyed look had returned to their face once again.

     A thick silence followed the exchange, broken only by two new objects entering the scene. One was a test tube filled with some sort of green liquid, and the other was a red and yellow fan. The test tube was the first to speak up.

    “Oh hey Mic! And uhh…”

    “This is our new friend Pink Drink! Pink Drink, this is Test Tube, and the fan here is Fan!” Lightbulb jumped at the opportunity to introduce them to each other.

    The two gave Pink a small wave as well as a smile. The smiles, however, looked forced, whether it be because of the tension between Mic and Paintbrush or something else Pink couldn’t tell.

    “Anyways. We gotta go.” Paintbrush turned and grabbed Lightbulb’s arm.

    “Wh- _Painty_!”

    “We’re gonna be late.”

    Lightbulb pouted for a sec but brightened up almost immediately after. She ran over to Fan and swiped the phone he was holding out of his hands. The loud “HEY!” that he let out was completely ignored by Lightbulb.

    “Here! Real quick just type in your number.”

    “Er, uh, okay?”

    He typed as fast as he could, he didn’t want to anger Paintbrush any further than they already were. Once the number had been given and the phone snatched back the group of four scooted out of the cafe, drinks in tow. Pink took a drink of his tea as Mic finally sat down.

    “So uh… friends of yours?”

    “Yeah, I guess. Not Paintbrush, but the other ones.” She said this while actively avoiding eye contact with him.

    Pink Drink hummed in response, best to drop it he decided. Wouldn’t want Mic to get upset, more than she already was anyway.

    The tense energy soon faded and they were laughing and having a good time once again, reminiscing about their time in high school. Eventually, however, they had to split ways and Mic left for her own house. The cafe closed and Pink was forced to head back to his home. He was glad to finally go to bed but he was filled with so much restless energy. He lay staring up at his ceiling for hours until he slowly drifted off to sleep.

 

…

 

The T.V. now sat turned off in the empty living room. The table nearby still had the un-eaten half of Pink Drink’s dinner on it. He’d clean it up in the morning he told himself, he’s just tired and needs to go to bed - It was 6:00 pm.

He stole a glance at the trashcan that now sat only a foot from where his head lay on his pillow. Disgusting. An odd smell had started to waft through the apartment, a mixture of a wildflower field and the scene of a bloody murder. Not to mention the smell coming from Pink Drink himself. A sick and dying man, only 19, dying from a condition caused by passion and love. He wished he could just go to sleep and stay asleep. Forever.

Bzzt bzzt

…

Bzzt bzzt

God, what now? He had already told Mic that he wanted to process for a bit. He thought that she would understand that. Whatever. If he ignores it, it’ll go away.

…

…

Bzzt bzzt

Bzzt bzzt

Bzzt bzzt

He emitted a loud groan of annoyance before finally caving. This better be important Mic or I swear to God-

Five new messages from Fan

    Oh.

    Oh no.

    Oh no no no no no no no.

_‘PD where you been? You haven’t been online in ages, are you doing alright?’_

_‘Know that you can talk to me, ok? -_

_‘Pinks? -_

_‘Please, I need to know that you’re ok -_

_‘Please?’ -_

    A few moments passed as Pink Drink merely stared at the glowing screen in front of him. He really wasn’t sure if he could handle this right now. Of all times why did Fan have to text him now? But he couldn’t just leave him on read…

_‘Pinks please’_

_…_

_…_

_‘I’m sorry Fan… I shouldn’t have disappeared like that… ’_

_‘GOD it’s just nice to hear that you’re OK -_

_‘Don’t scare me like that Pinks….’_

_‘I’m so sorry Fan, I never wanted you to worry’_

_Fan is typing…_

_Fan is typing…_

_…_

_Fan is typing…_

_‘Something’s going on, what is it?’_

 

_…_

 

    The mall was absolutely packed, there were more people here than Pink Drink had ever seen in one place. His high school didn’t have anything on this. He, Lightbulb, Paintbrush, and Fan had all decided to go on a mall excursion together, mainly to try and indoctrinate Pink into the group. Test Tube had opted to stay home instead of face the crowds which was something Pink presumed Fan would do too, yet here he was. He certainly didn’t look to be in his element and seemed to be even sweatier than usual.

    To be honest Pink Drink wasn’t one for crowds either, he’d rather not have prolonged physical contact with people he didn’t know whatsoever, but trying to get to know these new people would be important. He had been given a golden opportunity to become a part of a fairly tight looking friend group straight off the bat and he wasn’t about to let that go.

    “Any places you’re looking to hit up?” Lightbulb called back from her spot next to Paintbrush to the two boys behind them.

    “Uh… not really to be honest. What about you Fan?”

    “OH! Uh…” Pink had seemingly caught Fan off guard even though Fan seemed to be giving him his full attention. “No- no not really…”

    “Just take us anywhere then I guess Lightb- … Lightbulb?”

    Both Lightbulb and Paintbrush had vanished into the crowds of people. Neither Fan nor Pink Drink had even the faintest of ideas for where the two had gone.

    “Well fuck. What do we do now?” When his question was met with silence Pink Drink turned to Fan. The poor boy looked like he was having a silent panic attack - he had to get them out of there, quick.

    He grabbed Fan by the hand, it was frankly quite sweaty and kind of gross, but Pink got over it quickly. He lead the both of them to the outside of the mall to a small table slightly isolated from the rest. He sat Fan down, fingers still intertwined, and tried his best to help as well as not make it worse. He used his free hand to rub up and down Fan’s arm in some sort of attempt to soothe him. Whether it worked or not Fan’s breathing eventually returned to normal and he once again became present in the moment.

    He shook his head slightly and murmured, “Thanks Pinks… I needed this…”

    ...Pinks?

    “Oh, it’s no problem! I hated to see you so distressed… I’ve been there, anxiety attacks aren’t fun. Especially around thousands of other people.” He chuckled slightly, hoping to lighten up the mood a tad. It seemed to work as Fan let out a small laugh as well and smiled up at Pink Drink.

    “You can stop rubbing my arm now though.” Fan chuckled.

    " _Oh_... right.” Pink flushed slightly in embarrassment and withdrew both of his hands from Fan. He turned away slightly and tried to look anywhere that wasn’t Fan.

    “Hey,” Fan spoke up after a brief moment, “There’s a really cool retro arcade I know of that’s only like a five-minute walk from here, wanna go?”

    “Yeah, sure! That sounds like a great time! We should probably let Lightbulb and Paintbrush know we’re not dead though.”

    “Already on it!” Fan presented the group chat on his phone to Pink. The latest message was from Fan himself and it read simply:

_‘We’re not dead! gonna ditch tho, see ya nerds later.’_

… 

    Fan and Pink Drink had agreed to meet up at one of their favorite places, a hill overlooking LA. Pink had thought it better that he tell Fan about his condition in person rather than over text, it was kind of a bombshell after all. A lift took him to a back alley, through which was the trail to the hill. It was barely used so it often was fairly difficult to navigate through the rocks and thorns, but it also kept the place fairly private. At the top of the trail there lies a large rock jutting out of the steep incline, this is where he would always sit.

    The sun had started setting by then and the lights of LA were becoming more and more prominent. There he waited, looking out over the view and feeling some sort of mixture of an odd calm and anxiety. It wouldn’t be long until Fan got there and Pink would have to tell him that he was dying. He kicked his feet as they dangled over the ledge above the cliff face below, he used to be scared of doing this but something inside of him had changed.

    A rustle in the woods to his left foretold the arrival of Fan himself, and Pink scooted back away from the fall to more solid ground. Pink felt the need to look away as Fan approached him. Neither of them said a word for a good few minutes, but eventually Pink knew he would have to break the silence.

    “I’m sorry for making you come out this far.”

    “You know I’d do practically anything if it made you feel better.”

    A pause.

    “Thank you, Fan…”

    “No problem. Now, do you mind telling me what’s going on?”

    At this moment Pink Drink finally built up the courage to make eye contact with Fan. The worry in his gaze crushed him, there’s no backing out now though. He had to tell him.

    “I have… a disease.” Pink did his best to explain all that the doctors had told him, the flower growth, the coughing, and eventually the suffocation. “It’s caused by being in love.” He explained. “Being in love and not being told that the person loves you back. In order to cure it, I would need my love to confess to me, and I would need to believe it.”

    “Why wouldn’t you believe it?”

    “Well, I don’t know… I mean if you tell the one you love you have the disease they may just say they love you to try and cure you.”

    “Wouldn’t that be a kind of love though? Platonic love?”

    “That doesn’t work. It must be romantic love.”

    Another silence overtook the pair, Fan seemed completely lost in thought. Before he knew it, Pink Drink started to shake, hot tears welling up in his eyes. All of the emotions that he had previously had felt numb to poured forward and left him sobbing on a cliff, next to the cause of the disease. Next to the love of his life.

…

_‘Hey! We still on for the Steven Universe marathon?’_

_‘Helled yes boy, I’ll be over in like 5’_

_‘Sweet, see you then’_

_‘ <3 <3 <3’ _

    Pink Drink looked up from his phone and stared out the window of his Lyft. He watched the people, streets, and falling snow as they passed by and smiled at himself. He was on his way to Fan’s to prep for the new Steven Bomb that was going to be coming in just a couple of days. He, Fan, and the rest of the squad had become much closer to Pink Drink. Pink, however, spent most of his time with Fan and Test Tube, going to arcades, watching anime, and other general nerd things. Pink Drink had even been invited into Test Tube’s lab which was, he gathered, the highest honor that one of Test Tube’s friends could receive. Though tonight sadly Test Tube could not join them for their marathon. Whether it be because she secretly didn’t really care for Steven Universe or for some other reason nobody knew.

    The Lyft then stopped abruptly and Pink Drink’s seat belt was put to the test.

    “We’re here.”

    He called out a “Thank you!” behind him as he hopped out of the car, careful not to slip on any of the ice, and headed towards Fan and Test Tube’s apartment. Upon arriving, Fan buzzed him in and he half hopped up the flight of stairs to where the marathon would take place. As he entered he saw what Fan had set up, the living room table was filled with various kinds of snacks as well as Arizona cans. The couch had been pushed back to provide room for some sort of floor nest for them to sit in.

    “Pink! Come in and join me on the floor.”

    “You mean in your nest?” Pink closed the door behind him as he went to settle down next to Fan.

    “I mean… I wouldn’t call it a nest.”

    “Fan, it’s a nest. Look at it. We’re sitting in a nest right now.”

    He had arranged quite a few pillows and blankets in an oval formation, even going as far as to raise the borders with even more pillows. It was one of the most comfortable places Pink had ever sat but it was still, indeed, a nest.

    “Yeah, you’re right,” Fan laughed and set up Hulu.

    Test Tube walked through the room, backpack and binders in tow, to the front door.

    “Hey P.D., I’m about to head out, have fun you two!” She waved at them as she went.

    “Bye, Test Tube!”

    “See ya later, T!”

    The click of the door left Fan and Pink Drink alone together. The only sound in the room was the soft hum of the heater and the sounds from the TV as Fan navigated Hulu. The nest was incredibly cozy, he could see himself falling asleep in here… he instead turned to watch Fan, he had a cute smile on his face, Pink could look at that smile forever.

    “Just you and me then, huh?”

    “Hope you’re not disappointed.”

    “What? No of course not. I love being around you!”

    Fan smiled at this. “Is that so?”

    “Of course, dude! You’re like… top five favorite people!”

    “Awww, well you’re in my top five too!”

    “You only know like five people.”

    “Okay, well, true but that doesn’t change the fact that you’re one of my favorites.”

    They just sat there and smiled at each other for a brief second. Fan then jolted slightly and looked back to the TV. He had the first episode up and ready to be played.

    “Shall we, uh, start?” He no longer looked at Pink Drink.

    “Yeah, let’s go!”

    Twelve hours into the marathon and they still hadn’t even finished season two. They were getting there but it was a long haul and Pink was getting increasingly tired. He hadn’t realized that it would be so long! Watching them as they came out must have made the sheer amount of episodes seem much smaller. Fan, on the other hand, didn’t look tired at all, he even appeared to be casually lip syncing to _Haven’t You Noticed (I’m a Star)_. It was honestly one of the cutest things that Pink had ever seen.

    He let out a quiet yawn and buried himself more under the blanket that he and Fan had gotten. Pink grabbing more of the blanket had inadvertently scooched the two of them closer together. Fan seemingly didn’t notice, Pink Drink certainly did though. His heart started to beat out of his chest. He mustered up all of the courage he had in his body and leaned himself against Fan. This action was indeed noticed by Fan, Pink felt him tense up, then quickly relax once more. After a moment, Fan too partially leaned against Pink.

    This close contact sped up Pink’s heart to as fast as it could go, but his tiredness soon came back to him. The warmth beneath the blanket and from Fan was too much for him to fight against and soon, he fell into a deep sleep.

 

…

 

    He always hated the way he looked when he cried, so he’d never do it in front of anybody, but he couldn’t stop. Everything was too much, it seemed that the realization that he would die was finally hitting him. Fan didn’t love him, and he was going to die.

    “P-Pinks! Hey, hey, hey…” Fan quickly moved to sit as close to Pink Drink as possible. He threw his arms around him and rubbed a hand against his back.

    “I’m going to-*hic*- die Fan! Just be- just because I love someone. This isn’t fair this isn’t- this isn’t right!”

    “You’re not going to die. Don’t say that. Whoever it is loves you too, I’m sure of it.”

    Pink Drink said nothing, opting instead to put his arms around Fan and hug him back while he sobbed. They remained this way for a while, the two locked in an embrace and the sound of Pink’s loud sobbing. When he did quiet down and pull away from Fan once more, he immediately started coughing again. It was getting so bad that he could barely breathe, large roses with thorns on their short stems cascaded out of Pink’s mouth. The usual red and pink, aside from the occasional yellow. He did his best to cough them out over the side of the cliff, but he didn’t want to get too close to the edge, no matter how much that seemed like a much easier solution to him.

    The coughing subsided and Pink Drink was left wheezing and trying desperately to catch his breath, and for a moment he was scared that he wouldn’t. Fan started to lightly pound on his back until he could finally breathe once more. He sat back and looked at Fan whose eyes were filled with absolute horror as well as sadness.

    “Is that what it’s like every time?”

    “It’s gotten worse over the months but… pretty much.”

    “Oh, Pink…” Fan tried his best to not show the fact that he too had started crying. “Can you at least tell me who it is?”

    Pink Drink held his gaze for a brief second, then turned away and sighed. He said not a word to Fan, he just couldn’t bring himself to. He felt his hands being gently grabbed and turned to see that Fan had grabbed them and intertwined their fingers. Fan just stared at their hands for a minute before saying,

    “If only it were me.”

    Silence.

    “What?”

    “I’m sorry, it’s the worst possible time I can’t-”

    “Tell me.”

    “Pink, really I don’t-”

    “Tell. Me.”

    He looked into Pink Drinks eyes. “I just…” He sighed. “I’m sorry. It’s just that I’m… I…” The tears started rolling down his cheeks. “I love you Pinks. I’m _in_ love with you… I’m sorry, I…” He looked away from Pink once more. “I’m sorry.”

    It took Pink Drink a minute to process what Fan had said. But after it had gone through, Pink grabbed Fan and turned him towards himself. Fan looked at him wide-eyed, a steady flow of tears still on his face. Pink pulled him close and pressed their lips together, Fan kissed him back moments after. They soon pulled away.

    “Pink! I thought- does this mean?”

    Pink Drink opened his mouth to answer but was stopped before he could start making even any sort of noise. He could feel something happening inside his chest, something painful. It felt as though he was getting stabbed with thousands of tiny needles, what was going on? He got to the side of the cliff just in time as flowers started to force their way out his lungs, through his throat, and out into the open. It was the most flowers he had ever seen, not just large ones but ones that hadn’t even bloomed yet. It was remarkable that this many could even have fit inside of him. He knew that if he hadn’t gotten Fan’s love in a few days, he would have died.

    The flowers this time weren’t nearly as painful, it was as if the thorns had completely disappeared. The only pain was that of his poor throat that had been scratched to hell and back. As they fell down the cliff face, they seemed to become lighter and floated on the wind. They drifted off over the city lights and disappeared from view. He coughed up the last few flowers and could finally breathe once more. He looked up to see the view of this disease floating amongst the lights, an odd and morbid display of beauty.

    Fan and Pink Drink sat side by side and watched the flowers as well as the setting sun. The two held hands, fingers intertwined, and leaned on one another. Pink inhaled deeply for the first time in months and relished in the feeling. He sat and breathed just for the feeling of it, and Fan breathed in time with him.

    “I don’t want to be alone tonight.”

    “You don’t have to be, stay at my house.”

    “Will Test Tube mind?”

    “Of course not.”

    They both stood up, glanced back one more time, and headed back down the trail.

 

-fin-

**Author's Note:**

> Hey!  
> Thank you so much for reading my fic! It's the first time I've written something of this length and I'm actually pretty happy with it. I didn't expect this weird self-indulgent oc x canon to be anything more than like 1000 words but here we are!! I always welcome critique!  
> Thank you again!


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